The Most Beautiful Things

These works of art serve as affirmations of a beautiful moment. The works, like beauty, exist in an unattainable state. The word beauty is used here not to describe a physical attractiveness, but rather an imperceptible moment where everything is right. Those moments that seem to defy the world, that make each breath seem fuller. This particular moment now only exists as a disjointed memory, shifting from fact to fiction in an unbridled narrative. The objects serve as a remembrance of that moment, a document of what was.

The works of art face the wall in part because of the intangible nature of beauty but also because of the corruptibility of memory. Beauty is elusive and brief. It cannot be captured nor contained. Beauty’s existence depends on its freedom. Our memories shift and change. What once was a memory full of clarity and fact becomes a murky work of fiction. The works of art tell the story of a specific event, yet their communication of that event, like beauty itself, is obstructed.

To actually view the works of art would simultaneously bring to life and condemn to death that moment of beauty, of not knowing. It is the unknown; the not having that allows the works to exist in this perpetual state of longing. Not being able to see what is literally before our eyes makes us aware of the things we cannot have. Whether these moments are found through faith, the bodies of others or the inventions of man, these moments of phenomenal beauty, of bliss, are the source of longing.